Chapter 3

My apprentice, Maya Fernsby, sat in the chair beside me. "Margaret, why isn't Sebastian at home taking care of you? If he had stayed home with you, your stomach wouldn't have gotten this bad."

I was on my phone, taking care of the work I still had left. "He has something more important to do."

To him, having fun with Claire was more important than my stomach pain.

"What could possibly be more important than you? You're getting married soon. He should care more about you."

He had never put me first. I had always put him first.

Over the seven years we'd been together, almost everyone around us knew how much I cared about him.

Of course, he knew it too.

My whole life revolved around him.

I had been blinded by love. I was always willing to compromise without asking for anything in return.

One year, I even gave up a chance to enter a competition that could have helped me become a top bridal gown designer.

I gave it up because Sebastian said he couldn't handle a long-distance relationship. He wanted me to stay by his side.

So I stayed for seven years. And during those seven years, my biggest wish was to marry him.

I'd imagined him proposing to me countless times. I'd waited through countless anniversaries and birthdays, hoping that one of them would finally be special.

But in the end, none of it seemed to matter as much as a promise he had made to Claire when they were children.

I gave a bitter smile. "I'm not marrying him anymore."

"What? Why? Margaret, you've been together for seven years. Aren't you being too impulsive?"

Her words hit me hard.

"Maya, if your boyfriend had a wedding ceremony with another woman, would you still want to stay with him?"

Maya froze.

Then she gave an awkward laugh. "That can't happen, right? That's just ridiculous."

I smiled. "Even you think something like that is ridiculous. But it really happened to me."

I leaned back against the headboard and tried to hold back my tears.

But I couldn't.

Tears rolled down my face, and suddenly I broke down crying.

When I returned home after getting my IV at the hospital, Sebastian and Claire were already there.

"Hi, Margaret," Claire said casually.

They were both completely focused on a game on their phones, leaning close together on the couch.

Neither of them even looked at me.

Claire had one leg resting across Sebastian's thigh.

They were sitting so close that there was barely any space between them.

Even after I came home, neither of them made any effort to move apart.

I simply replied, "Hi."

Sebastian finally looked at the bag in my hand. "Where did you go this afternoon? When we got back, we found the medicine I ordered for you still sitting outside the door. Does your stomach still hurt?"

He finally remembered to worry about me.

"I'm fine now. I went to the hospital this afternoon and got some medicine."

"Why did you go all the way to the hospital for medicine? Isn't that a hassle? Couldn't you just buy some at the drugstore downstairs?"

The drugstore could have sold my stomach medicine. But I had waited too long to take it. By then, the pain was so bad that I couldn't even walk to the drugstore.

I tore the medical tape off the back of my hand.

While they waited for their game to load, Claire asked Sebastian, "Sebastian, what should we have for dinner?"

He actually said, "Whatever you want. Just have Margaret make it for you."

Claire immediately answered, "I want buffalo wings and chili con carne."

"Sure."

After answering Claire, Sebastian looked at me. "Margaret, when you go buy the ingredients later, get some shrimp too. Claire likes peel-and-eat shrimp."

I stood by the guest room door and couldn't help finding it a little funny.

The way they sat pressed together on the couch made them look more like a couple. And I really did look like the nanny they had hired.

I let out a soft sigh. "My stomach still doesn't feel good today, so I don't want to cook. Just order takeout yourselves."

They looked at each other but didn't argue.

Half an hour later, the food Sebastian ordered arrived.

He had ordered buffalo wings, chili con carne, and peel-and-eat shrimp.

Everything was Claire's favorite.

I'd already told him several times that my stomach was hurting, but he still hadn't paid attention.

"Margaret, you should eat something too. The food from this place is really good."

When Claire invited me to eat, she somehow made me feel like I was the guest in my own home.

"I don't have much of an appetite. You guys eat." I sat at the dining table with a glass of water and watched Sebastian peel shrimp for Claire.

Sebastian thought peeling shrimp was too much work, so he usually didn't eat them.

That's why we rarely made shrimp at home.

But now, just because Claire liked them, he peeled an entire plate of shrimp for her.

Claire picked up her phone and held it out to me. "Margaret, look! Sebastian and I are almost at level 80 for our couple status in the game."

I looked at the screen. Their game usernames were matching couple names with a red heart between them.

And next to Sebastian's name, Claire had saved him as "Husband."

She had actually saved my boyfriend's name as "Husband."